THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST SERIES

DEVELOPING HUPOMONE

Lets look at Rom.5 as we left off in the last message. We are doing a series on the character of Christ. The reason that we go on this series is because many Christians do not place a high priority on the character of Jesus. I believe that having the character of Jesus in our lives and our personal transformation in order to be conformed to His image and being like Jesus is more valuable than silver and gold. It is more valuable than being successful in life. It is more valuable than any of our answered prayers. In fact if we have the character of Jesus in our lives, we could be the answer to our own prayers, because God will put the ability of Jesus in our life and we could go forth and bear fruit and results and success.

And we have mentioned last week perhaps the result that we want in our lives or profession or ministry is because of a lack of Christ likeness in our lives. The proportion that you allow Christ to be established in you, you would have that same proportion of His strength in you. Being Christ like is not being weak. The proportion to which we are like Jesus is the same proportion to which the authority of Jesus rules in our life. The greater the Christ likeness you have in your character, the greater His authority and power in your life. The power of Christ flows in direct proportion to His likeness of character in you.

Rom.5: 1-5 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Notice that character development is also the working of the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit who empowers us to cast out devils and heal the sick is the same Holy Spirit who comes upon our lives and causes the character of Jesus to be developed in our lives. We see the process all over again. First we see tribulation. Tribulation produces perseverance and the word perseverance is the word hupomone, which is, translated patience many times. Hupomone produces character, which in Greek is the word dokime and then character hope. And then hope works with love. You see a progression from tribulation to hupomone, hupomone to character or dokime and dokime to hope which is a Greek word elpis. There we have a progression of tribulations, perseverance and character.

Last week I mentioned that these are two Greek words in the New Testament for the word patience. One is the word hupomone, the other is the word that is found in Heb.6: 12 “That you do not become sluggish but imitate those who through faith and makrothumia inherit the promises of God.” Now notice here there is faith and patience. But the word patience is also found in another Greek word makrothumia. We have the usage of a combination of the two Greek words for patience.

Lets look at Phil.1: 10 -11 “That you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” He is praying for the believers to be filled with the fruits of righteousness. We have gone to say that the fruit of righteousness are the result of your right standing with God.

In Rom.5: 1 “Therefore, having been justified by faith.” Therefore being made righteous by faith, what must happen? We have peace with God. And out of the walk that we have with God and as we go through tribulations, God begins to work something inside us. As we walk with God, remember all the days of your life this phrase; it always starts with the invisible realm before it comes to the visible realm. God made the invisible before He made the visible. God made the spirit realm before He made the physical realm. The Bible tells us that when God looked at the void that was all over the universe, God said let there be light. Now that was not the sunlight or any natural light. God has not made the sun, the moon, and the stars to shine in the void yet. That was the spiritual realm that was brought into existence before the physical realm. It was only in the next couple of days that God brought forth the physical lights, the greater light and the lesser light as you read in the book of Genesis one. The invisible always come first before the visible.

And to bring it closer home we say that the internal must come before the external. Therefore before God works anything in our external lives, He deals with our inner man. Our internal things must be dealt with before He deals with the external. For too many people they want the external to take place without yielding to the internal. There will be no external change unless there is an internal change in our life. If you are praying about circumstances in your life to change, remember that changing the external circumstances is directly proportional to the internal change in your life. It is a direct proportion and not an inverse proportion. Which means that the more change you have on your inside, the more change there will be on your outside. This is the supreme law of the Spirit of God. Never ever forget that all your life. This is an important principle that must be ingrained in us. Men, who walk in the flesh, like to change their outward environment without first wanting to change their inward parts. We must be established in the fact that there must be internal change before external change can come forth.

And as we look at internal change we look at the two key words, hupomone and makrothumia. As we have mentioned hupomone and makrothumia work together. But these two words for patience are different.

Makrothumia comes from the word makro, which is greatness inside and thumia means heat or sometimes is translated as fire. And so makrothumia put together is macro-fire. It’s big, something burning out from your inside.

And hupomone is the opposite. The word mone, which is from another Greek word mano, which means abide. You shall abide in me and my Word shall abide in you, Jesus says in Jn.15. Abiding is a sense of standing, holding fast, remaining steadfast, immovable. So there is an expectancy of endurance and an aspect of overcoming. Hupomone gives a picture where you are standing still and everything around you is coming against you. But yet there is an internal strength of endurance. Hupomone seems to be an ability to endure.

Makrothumia is an ability to overcome. Before you overcome you must endure. And it seems that we must reach a point of total endurance before we reach a point of being able to overcome totally. The things that you are running away from in your life will weaken your endurance and will not help you to overcome. Trying to overcome before you endure is not God’s will for you. We need to learn endurance. The people who can overcome the storms are the people who have endured these storms. The people who can overcome financial hardships and come out in life are people who have endured hardships. People who can overcome sickness and sins are people who had endured all these kind of things and remained steadfast without falling and they overcome.

It seems there must be an intake before there is an output. Hupomone is an intake whereas makrothumia is an output. There must be an endurance that is built in our life. We don’t try to change the circumstances. Instead we allow ourselves to be stronger and stronger without trying to change our circumstances. It’s almost like some sort of exercise or lifting weights or going on a physical program of health.. Lets say that everyday you run about 2 kilometers. Day by day as you are doing your running, you don’t realize what is happening. What is happening is new blood vessels are formed throughout your body, and there is an internal change taking place as you endure that 2-kilometer run. After sometime that 2 kilometers run is nothing for you. And then you increase it to 5 kilometers. What is happening is that your muscles began to develop. There is an internal change after 1 year of running 5 kilometers. You may not even see the change. Most people who don’t exercise don’t realize the change. When you exercise there are actually new blood vessels being formed. New canals are formed that could convey the blood throughout your body. In fact if there is not enough exercise or resistance the muscles will atrophy. The greater the resistance the greater the internal development. We don’t realize it. If one day there is an earthquake and you need to run at least 10 kilometers you could make it. The other guy who did not exercise will find it difficult to run. You are able because you endured and the endurance produces muscles in your body that helps you to overcome physical challenges. The same endurance that enables you to endure running 5 kilometers becomes also the same ability to overcome the running of 5 kilometers.

It’s directly proportionate, as we apply that spiritually. There is a necessity. The internal development is call hupomone. The external use of the muscles, which you developed into the spiritual muscles is makrothumia. If you endure 20 kilograms of tribulation, you can overcome 20 kilograms of difficulties. It’s directly proportional.

Lets look at Col. 1 and see how both hupomone and mikrothumia work together.

Col.1: 9-11 “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience (hupomone) and longsuffering (makrothurmia) with joy.”

The word strengthened with all might comes from the Greek dunamio with all dunamics which may be translated as powered with power.

Look at the usage of both words together. As the power of God comes upon our lives we are strengthened. Now look at the strengthening. The strengthening is taking place from the inside and that strengthening is there with His glorious power. What purpose is it for? For hupomone and makrothumia with joy. You have an overcoming ability. The power of the Holy Spirit is working in our lives, first for hupomone and then for makrothumia. You cannot have it reverse. We have to develop hupomone, the ability to endure before we develop makrothumia, the ability to overcome. It’s the enduring part that is difficult. The overcoming part is no problem. It’s a by-product of your endurance.

Here looking at the hupomone and the endurance part is where we are going to focus on in a little while. Hupomone means dying completely to self. It is a complete emptying of our self and being filled by God. Many times we sing the song God fill me with your power. Remember this whenever you create a vacuum, you create a force to move into that vacuum. Winds, storms and waves result from differential of pressure, and the wind moves from a high-pressure area to a low-pressure area. In the same way if you want to have more of God, you just have to have less of yourself. The more we die to self, the more God can fill us. Then the greater the power of God can flow through us. It’s directly proportional. If you want the presence of God, the power of God in your daily life, all you have to do is everyday to seek out Christ first. Any selfish thing must be put aside. You have to die to those things and choose against those things. He who denies himself will find life. He who seeks after his own life will lose his own life.

This principle is impounded by Paul in the book of 2 Cor.4: 7 onwards. Talking about the life and ministry. “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed - always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

In other words, dying to self for Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also manifest in our body.

For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus Christ. Do you notice that, as he delivers himself to die for Jesus, that everything he does he thinks about Jesus. Everything that is selfish he puts down, as he takes up the cross and dies for Jesus.

That the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. That’s the power of God coming in the physical body.

So then death is working in us but life in you. In other words the life of Jesus flows through him in direct proportion to him dying to himself. The more we die to ourselves and own motivations, our own selfishness, our own ambitions, our own desires, the more the power of God fills our lives. It’s directly proportional. Now its ok to sing God fill me once in a while but in your understanding you must remember what is happening. That He can fill you to the proportion to which you die to yourself.

Dying to self is the hupomone part. You would be surprised that sometimes self is still turning up and sometimes in a whole different area and you keep dealing with it in your life until self totally dies. You can run from these circumstances but it will be like a wilderness. You will have the same situations over the next year. You will find different actors, different people, except that you are the main star. And you can’t take the difficulty you run to another place. Behold you are still the star but different actors, different circumstances arise, and the same kind of pressure still is exerted on you, until you learn to die to some of these things.

What happens if we never get through? We remain where we are until Jesus comes. Physically we grow older but spiritually we are stagnant. I am not sharing this as a teaching. Let me tell you that it is true that God can still find things for you to die to. Abraham has so many things that he has given up for God. But God still found something in his life, where God ask for his son. As you go on in life, you ask why is it continuous? You see Abraham never had a son before when he first came out from the land of Ur. Now that he had a son from God, he had more to surrender to God. That’s the hupomone part. The patience, endurance, until we totally die and there are many areas we totally die to. Sometimes we have died to some areas but not other areas and God will keep dealing in our life until the endurance and the hupomone is established in those areas and is direct proportion to the fact that you die to those things. Something else fills your life. The Spirit of God fills your life and there is an internal muscle, faith muscle that is working in your life that establishes it.

Let me show you what was happening in Abraham’s life. In Rom. 4:17 (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him who believed - God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things, which do not exist as though they did. So God made him a promise and said I have made you a father of many nations.

Look at verse 18, there was no natural way that could be fulfilled. Who contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body already dead (since he was about a 100 years old) and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God.

The word strengthened is the word endunamo. It’s from the word dunamis with the word en in front. The word en means inside. Which means he was dunamis from inside. He has the power of God strengthening his inside endunamo. He was strengthened on the inside by faith giving glory to God.

Abraham having been strengthened on his inside, is now enduring. Through the years he was enduring, walking and believing in God. Sometimes he doubted but slowly faith rises in him. He was carrying his weight and sometimes even though he didn’t feel like it, he still carried it. Sometimes it is painful as you begin to exercise that faith you never discovered before. Try climbing the steps to the 15^th floor. You suddenly discover muscles that you never had. It’s a different set of muscles. Climbing stairs and running use different sets of muscles. You could be running 15 kilometers a day, but try climbing up 15 stories and you will find that there are still muscles that you haven’t exercised. A different exercise works different muscles. He was continuing to exercise his faith and the muscles in his internal spiritual life was being developed. His faith muscle was being developed and there came a point in his life where his endurance was complete.

And that’s verse 21, and being fully convinced. He was no more half convinced. Do you know a lot of people have half developed muscles? We don’t send out half trained doctors to the hospitals. We send out fully trained doctors. We don’t send our half trained accountants to do company accounts. We send out fully trained accountants. And we should not be sending out half trained people to plant churches. We should be sending out the best. Do you notice that in the book of Acts the most experienced go out?

There was a time when Abraham was not convinced. There was a time he was half convinced and there was time where he was fully convinced. It was when he was fully convinced that what He had promised; He was also able to perform. And therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness with God.

Brethren its not that God did not reveal His perfect will to our life. God has revealed some areas of His will to all of us. The problem is not that we don’t have some conviction in our life. The problem is that we are not fully convinced. It is when we are fully convinced that you burn your bridges and you go forth. And in life the lions and the bears and the Goliaths can only be defeated when you handle them with a steady hand. David didn’t go to the lion and the bear half convinced that he could win. David didn’t go to Goliath half convinced. He didn’t say, “I am not sure whether it’s going to be ok, but I will give a try” because God’s name was at stake. He goes out and Goliath laughed at him, “You come to me with stones and sticks.” He said, “I’m just a little shepherd boy who loves God. You come against God and I don’t think its right.” David was firmly convinced.

Why do we need to be fully convinced? It only takes a small little virus to kill that 6 feet tall body. A small little virus of doubt is all it takes to spread an infection throughout your body. We humans are of a certain size. How about you ladies? You are big, I mean compared to some of the little animals. Big, strong, 5 feet 3, 5 feet 5, working in your kitchen with enough muscles to lift a table and then coming across the kitchen is this little 6 legged creature called a cockroach. You yell, you have enough muscular force to lift up your legs and squash that thing flat. In fact it is the little cockroach that looked up from eating its food and seeing this great monster 5 feet 3, it should be this little cockroach who yells. In fact they should be running away from you, but you end up running away from them too. We have enough energy to destroy that cockroach but one tiny little bit of doubt is all it takes to make you fearful of them.

Peter was walking on water very well, but just one doubt was enough to sink him. One little leaven can raise the whole dough. Here is where we make this statement. As far as the realm of faith and the Spirit is concerned, there is no difference between a quarter conviction, a half conviction, and 90% conviction at all. The only difference is between 100% and the other percentages. There is no difference to your ability in your performance as far as God is concerned. It is all written off. Because a person who is half convinced, or even 90% convinced, he will still have the element of fear. And when fear comes faith goes. And the person who is 99% believing still fails.

Let me give you an example in the natural world. You can study hard for your exams. If the passing mark is 80%, it makes no difference whether you got 79% or if you got 20%. You said but I missed by one point. Lets say some of you lawyers studying to get into the bar. They have a quota. They raised the standard accordingly. If they said that the passing mark is 90, it makes no difference whether you got 89 or 50, to you it has a difference, because the one who scores 79 works very hard or does his best to do it and was so close but yet so far. It makes no difference. You still didn’t qualify. Whether you get 79% or 20% you’ve still got to sit again for the examinations.

It makes no difference as far as changing circumstances and makrothumia is concerned. Makrothumia or the ability to overcome in any area cannot come out until you reach 100% conviction, until you are like Abraham, fully convinced. That’s the passing standard to overcome whatever things. In the Olympic Games you have the prizes as gold, silver and bronze. Do you know that sometimes people spend their entire life training just to win an Olympic medal? It makes no difference whether you turned out no.4, no.5 or no.6. You never got a prize. But you say that you were only 0.1 second behind the third athlete. Great effort, but you got no medal. When it comes to spiritual things, it makes no difference if your faith is 90%, 50% or 20%. It is still not enough. When it comes to some of the things that God has told you to do and to achieve, God demands that you be fully convinced.

That word fully convinced is used in the book of Heb.6. That fully convinced comes through endurance. Abraham was absolutely sure that is going to take place. Heb.6: 15, and so after he had makrothumia he obtained the promise. He went through hupomone and when hupomone was completed in his life, he was fully convinced. What are you like when hupomone is established in your life? You never ever doubt again. You know it and you are convinced of it.

Turn to Rom.4: 18, consider the meaning of these words, “who, contrary to hope, in hope believed.” The Greek word for hope is the word Elpis that also means to trust; against all evidence that he should trust God. He trusts that. My friends, if there is anyone in heaven, earth or hell, you should ever believe in, it is God. Humans may let you down, but God never lets you down. And if God told you something, make sure you hold on to God. Which is why when people come and say God told me to do this, God told me to do that and 3 years later they have changed. I question whether God spoke to them because if God spoke you wouldn’t change. You will hold fast to it. Maybe God did, but you were not fully convinced. The most important question in our life is not whether we can do it. The most important question in our life is whether God has told us to do it. Whatever area in your life, people in the Bible from Gen. to Rev. have always been told to do what they couldn’t do themselves. And if God tells us we have no rights to doubt but to trust.

I have found that Christians don’t settle this in their lives. They don’t settle the fact whether God told them to do it or not. All the time they are moving in half conviction. That is why we are not changing the world. If Christians will walk about knowing what God told them to do, this world will be changed because we are not moving in our ability but in God’s ability. It says here, against hope. How could Abraham do it? Hupomone and makrothumia were working in his life.

In Rom.5 you read about the third thing that results. Tribulation produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character hope. Now look Abraham has moved into hope. Against all hope, yet he hopes. Abraham has reached beyond perseverance into dokimia, the area called character and from character he went into that hope which doesn’t disappoint.

Now back to Heb.6. What I am trying to show is the entire same subject. The progression is from tribulation to perseverance to character to hope. And Abraham started with faith. His faith was tested until he was fully persuaded against hope. No hope, he yet hopes. He held on to the string of hope and he pulled himself through. In Heb.6: 15, when he had patiently endured makrothumia, he developed hupomone and makrothumia. Now look at verse 11-12 “And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope.” That word full assurance is the same word used in Rom.4: 21 ‘clariofolio’ which means totally and firmly convinced. Not just a half conviction, 90% conviction. You are totally and absolutely sold out to that conviction of what God said. It is a process for that fullness to develop in our life. And that’s why hupomone is important. When every one of us starts with what God tells us, we don’t straight away have a full conviction. We learn, we walk, we endure and we become more and more fully convinced. There is hupomone working in your life.

Remember the more you die to the impossibilities around you, the more you die to self around you, the more you die to circumstances around you, the hope rises until one day it comes and you pass the passing mark of God, 100% fully convinced. That hupomone will began to turn around and becomes makrothumia coming out of your life and changing your circumstances around you. You have the full assurance of hope.

Heb.10: 22 “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.” Now the problem with many Christians not achieving what they want in life is not because they never had faith. They have had faith followed by doubts and then after that faith again. Then doubt, then unbelief, then emotion, then faith, then doubt. They never have full assurance all their lives. Are we going to walk about life in this manner? Remember the Christian life is a life of God living on your inside. And if we are to live that kind of Christian life, we become full-blooded Christians for Jesus, surrendering our heart, life, mind, soul, strength, energy, might, everything to Him. Anything less is not worthy of what Jesus gave to us. Give out your best to the Lord. When Jesus saved us, He didn’t half save us. He absolutely gave Himself to us. There was no half measure in His love for us. Full assurance.

Turn with me to the book of James and see the progression here. James 1:3 “Knowing that the testing of your faith.” The word testing is the word ‘dokime’ which is from the word character in Rom.5. In other words your faith produces patience and patience produces character. I will put it this way, patience is necessary for the bringing out of character in your faith, the dokime of your faith.

Remember Rom.5. Tribulation produces hupomone, hupomone produces dokime. Dokime produces elpics, which is hope. When you put pressure on hupomone, dokime comes. So here in verse 3, knowing that the testing (dokimeo) of your faith produces hupomone. As you start with faith what God draws up is the testing (dokimeo) of your faith. And as He draws the dokimeo, your faith must pass through hupomone before it becomes a dokime. The dokimeon is the process of changing your faith to dokime. It was patience. Let patience have its perfect work.

Let patience have its perfect work. The word perfect means complete. When hupomone is complete, you have enduring power. Then you act. If you haven’t completely endured, you don’t act yet. You see a lot of times we are acting out of our self more than out of God. Lets say that a storm would come against your life when you are in a boat. And the boat is shaking. You are in a little boat, and you are out fishing in the Straits of Malacca, and the boat began shaking and sinking like it happened to Jesus and His disciples in their boat in the Sea of Galilee. Then you cry out to God, “Help in Jesus’ Name.” It looks like you are exercising faith but actually you are exercising panic. You may be using religious clichés like using the name of Jesus, calling upon God, etc but still nothing happens. It’s different from someone who had endured storms. And the boat is rocking to and fro and you endure it. Until you absolutely know whether the boat will sink or the boat won’t sink. You know that your life is in God. And you know that it won’t sink. You know that you won’t die. Even if the boat sinks you won’t die. Is the knowing on your inside? Its no longer you who live. That’s the hupomone part.

But Christ who now lives in you. That the makrothumia part. And the boat can shake; you endure and endure until there is no more fear in you. You endure until there is no hurt in you. You endure until there is no sense of emotion or panic in you. And by the time you endure until you really enjoy it and it doesn’t bother you whether you get wet or not. Whether there are sharks nearby or not. That is when suddenly your makrothumia rises on your inside. You have endured completely and something from your inside tells you to speak to the storm and by the time you speak to the storm, it doesn’t bother you at all. You are just saying it because your makrothumia has risen up. For the sake of the others who are now nearly half drowned, you say, “Be still” and the storm obeys you. If you have done that earlier when you haven’t hupomone or endured yet, your makrothurmia or overcoming ability wouldn’t be able to rise up and overcome that situation.

Now you understand why Paul in Acts 16, when he was preaching in Philippi, there was a girl possessed by demons disturbing him. Some people don’t have endurance at all. A little bit of difficulty comes by their way, and they quickly launch their verbal commands, “In Jesus’ name” here, “In Jesus’ Name” there. Any problem comes, In Jesus’ name. Yes they have learned their authority but they have no endurance. Any problem comes, they cry, “Satan get thee behind me.” They never develop endurance. They are missing one of the weapons that God gives. Paul had the authority, but he endured the disturbance coming day after day from that girl who possessed by demons. These are the men of the Most High God. Paul endured until the endurance was full. He could have cast the demon out the first day but what was he practicing? Endurance until God said it is no longer Paul who lives but Christ who lives in him on the inside.

If Paul were to cast out the demon just for his own comfort, he doesn’t want to do it. But when Jesus on the inside says cast it out now. No problem, in the name of Jesus out and he leaves. He was casting out the demon not for himself. He was now doing it because Jesus in him rose up. Let me tell you that Jesus in us doesn’t rise up on every situation, because sometimes the Jesus in us says take a rest. And He is sleeping in the boat. On the inside, you are the boat. And you are panicking and Jesus is still sleeping on the pillow because Jesus had not told you to do anything. Far too many times we do it out of flesh. We use spiritual things and we clothe it with the flesh when God wants us to learn endurance.

There are many occasions in the bible. For example, the devil comes and says turn this stone into bread. Jesus could have done it, but He didn’t. Only 3 temptations are recorded, but do you know that Jesus was tempted for 40 days and 40 nights. Even at night the devil never give Him rest. Let me ask this question. Why didn’t Jesus command the devil to leave Him on the first day? Don’t tell me that He can’t, He could. I mean that there were not just 3 temptations. 40 days 40 nights can see several hundreds, several thousands temptations. Why wasn’t the devil chased away? Because God never told Jesus to do it. So as long as God never told Him, He endures. The devil will say a lot of things. We only think about stone turning into bread and the mountain top experience when he tempted Him to have all the gold and silver and the entire world and also to worship the devil.

There was more than that. There were many temptations that you cannot dream about. Jesus could have told him to shut up. It is time for me to sleep. I don’t think Jesus did it. Why didn’t Jesus do it? Because He was enduring until the Father tells Him to do so. At the end of the 40 days and 40 nights, the Father said it is now enough, tell him to get out. Because we learn in this life, that the anointing of God and the power of God are not for selfish use or for our own comfort. The power of God is used to glorify God. The authority of Jesus is to bring forth the rule and reign of Jesus. It is no longer that I who live but Christ who lives on the inside. We must get the first part right first before we get the second. Far too many times it is we who are living. We who are doing those things, and Christians don’t practice endurance. Only when the work is perfect, complete then makrothumia will flow out. Let patience have its perfect work.

James 1:4 “that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” Look at verse 12 “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life.” That means when you reached dokime you must have gone through hupomone, and then you receive your reward. To every reward there is a test. In every test there is a need of endurance. Are we Christians who can endure? Some of the reasons why your prayers are taking time to get answered are because God wants you to practice endurance and be fully convinced in that time. When you have been fully convinced that live or die, this is the way to go. And you are firmly persuaded that you are not turning back on what God called you to do. That’s when hupomone is full on your inside and you began to have the makrothurmia and authority to change the circumstances.

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The above two books are ancient extra biblical literature that did not make it into the canon of the Word of God. They depict the life of Adam and Eve after they were expelled from the Garden of Eden. After their expulsion, Adam and Eve had to learn to live with new phenomena that we take for granted today. They experienced the first sunrise, the first rain, the first thunder and lightning and thought these were punishment from…Read More

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